Spirit of the Boogie cover

Spirit of the Boogie

Released

From 1975, Spirit of the Boogie is mostly dense, tight, Kool and the Gang funk tracks, with one soul-jazz excursion, the pretty Winter Sadness, a companion piece to their Summer Madness song from the previous album. The rest of the Spirit… consists of dance floor and disco material, their modus operandi being party-friendly fuzz funk with swinging jazz-horn riffs, catchy simple vocal refrains, chka-chka guitars and super-tight percussion. It being 1975 the band are gradually absorbing influences from the emergent disco sound, with Ancestral Ceremony, Mother Earth and the title track all sitting atop a straight-up 4/4 disco pulse. Another quality funk outing from pre-80s-hits-era Kool & the Gang.

Harold Heath

Recommended by

Suggestions
Talking Book cover

Talking Book

Stevie Wonder
Upchurch/Tennyson cover

Upchurch/Tennyson

Phil Upchurch, Tennyson Stephens
Do It Good cover

Do It Good

KC & the Sunshine Band
Taken Away cover

Taken Away

Moodymann
Trouble Man cover

Trouble Man

Marvin Gaye
Think! cover

Think!

James Brown & The Famous Flames
Mignonne cover

Mignonne

Taeko Onuki
Cosmic Slop cover

Cosmic Slop

Funkadelic
2nd Resurrection cover

2nd Resurrection

The Stairsteps